Do You Need a Pseudonym to Boost Your Book Sales? UK Book Editor Conducts Twitter Investigation!

Professional book editor in the UK reveals if aspiring authors should consider a pseudonym to boost their indie book sales!

As an avid reader, a passionate writer and a professional copy editor, I have always explored different genres and styles written by all kinds of authors. However, in the publishing world, authors are often advised to use their initials or to create a pseudonym to grow their audience and increase their book sales.

Why?

Because apparently, some readers can be picky when it comes to an author’s sex.

For example, J. K. Rowling was advised against using her full name, Joanne Rowling, when publishing Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone due to the assumption that boys would not read books written by female authors. In recent years, Rowling has used the pseudonym, Robert Galbraith, to separate her crime books from her general fiction, but why has she used a male name? Perhaps to avoid being judged for being a female author? Nora Roberts has also done the same thing – she goes by the name of J. D. Robb for her crime novels, which doesn’t reveal her sex or who she is.